(Pre-Season friendly) 19th July 1997

Enfield (1) 2 Moran (pen) 39; McGrath 90
Leyton Orient (0)1 Smith (pen)68

Back to a much-changed Southbury Road for this, the first of the pre-season friendlies.
If truth be told, the interest on this afternoon lay solely with the state of the ground, and not on the happenings on the pitch. Gone - the temporary seating on the north side of the ground, to be replaced by what is little more than a tarmac walkway. Oddly enough, this side of the ground still had its fair amount of spectators.

Leyton Orient bought along a small number of spectators. They must have known of Enfield's good record in competitive meetings between the sides. Enfield fielded Robbie Garvey for the first time since his move from Chelmsford City. He lasted only till the break before being replaced by Steve Terry, but long enough to be greeted warmly by the Enfield faithful behind the goal, who were attempting feverishly to find any words that would rhyme with his surname.

Enfield took the lead as half time approached. Paul Moran stepped up to convert a rather debatable penalty after a clumsy challenge on the edge of the box. The referee must have marked his decision down as suspect afterwards, for at the next given opportunity at the other end, he pointed to the spot again. Taking into account that he waited half an hour to even up the score, you can guess that Leyton Orient chances were few and far between.

Enfield continued to create the better of the chances. At the interval, the visitors bought on Melvin Capleton - last seen at Grays Athletic on the final day of last season. He received a good reception, and was congratulated on escaping the clutches of John Still at his recent trial spell at Blunderhill. Capleton played well, and even caused a stir by executing a magnificent header under pressure to clear from outside his box. The introduction of WOOOSH! St. Hilaire failed to bring about that all elusive winner. One last effort deep into injury time bought Enfield a corner on their left, and up popped Steve McGrath to claim "that's mine" as a header thundered in off the post past Capleton for a well deserved victory

(Pre-Season friendly) 24th July 1997

Enfield (1) 1 Cash 1
Tottenham Hotspur XI (0) 0

The announcer on the tannoy apologised profusely. There had been a cock-up with the squad line ups, and it was NOT Tottenham's first team after all.
Sounds familiar? Barnet sent a second string side last year. Well, anyone with sense would have known that:- 1) Tottenham are currently in Norway, and:- 2) whenever a team sends an XI it invariably means a mixture of reserves, trialists and youth. It was common knowledge that this was to be a makeshift Tottenham side. Who got it wrong?

It seemed that the visitors from White Hart Lane had hardly been introduced, let alone stepped onto the same pitch together. From the start they were on the defensive, a shot scraping the bar and then, calamity - a shot to test the keeper being allowed to bounce at least five times before hitting the back of the net within the first minute.

Enfield looked capable of scoring at will, but inexplicably, they eased off to at least allow their visitors some respite. The game appeared dull and lifeless, with apathy spreading to spectators and players alike. I do not recall a single shot to test Adrian Creamer who had been given a chance to impress in goal after Andy Pape's hand injury the previous Saturday. Leroy May introduced some much needed spark to the proceedings after the break, and should have at least hit the target with a couple of chances near the end.

Once again a Tottenham side had returned defeated from Southbury Road. Next year, the first team?

(Pre-Season friendly) 26th July 1997

Enfield (2) 2 Fitzgerald 7; Gentle 29
Rushden & Diamonds (2) 2 Collins 3; Alford 10

A game in which all the goals arrived in the first half hour.
With a sparse crowd of only 239 in attendance, Enfield quickly fell behind as E's old boy Darren Collins' fired past Pape to remind us all of what we are missing. Then, minutes later, Fitzgerald was able to convert Moran's free kick from outside the area. Fitzgerald was later to be carried off injured in the second half, an instant doubt for the start of the season. Back came Rushden, regaining the lead after a defensive slip-up by Adams presented Alford with the chance to make it 2-1.

Phew. The game settled down for a while after a frantic opening ten minutes, but then on the half hour, Adams conceded a quite blatant penalty for a push. Alford stepped up again, but Pape bought off a fine save low to his right to keep Enfield in the game. Minutes later it was all square again as Dominic Gentle applied the finishing touch to a defensive mix up in the Rushden Defence.

(Pre-Season friendly) 1st August 1997

Barnet (2) 3 McGrath (OG)32; Flatts 43; Samuels 53
Enfield 0

£7 to get in, full crowd segregation (they probably didn't want us to catch anything off the locals), same old slope! There was a letter of support from the supporters to George Borg which everyone signed so, even though the team gave in rather meekly and let in three goals, they came over and applauded the E's fans and got applause back.
Barnet's goals were scored by Steve McGrath (o.g.), Mark Flatts (ex-Arse) and Dean Samuels (ex-Boreham Wood). Pape was probably our man of the match. Everyone else was at best inconsistent so Danny Adams didn't look out of place even though he played the whole game. John Morgan came on as one of our subs and did all right. Creamer came on late for Pape but didn't have a shot to save. Jamie Southern has so far failed to impress. He may have scored 23 goals from midfield for Chelmsford last term but he was obviously playing in a different style for them! To be honest, it looked like more than half of the Enfield players weren't trying and even Steve West, who had a good first half, was anonymous in the second.

(Pre-Season friendly) 5th August 1997

Haringey Borough (0) 0
Enfield (0) 1 Terry 60

It took a goal from substitute Steve Terry to break the deadlock for Enfield, a mixed bag of first team and trialists. Warm-up practice for Saturday week.

(Pre-Season friendly) 9th August 1997

Enfield (0) 0
Stevenage Borough (0) 4 Beevor 60; Elad 63; Soloman 75; Brown 89

What a disaster - Enfield were found to be wanting in defence; Stevenage were scoring at will near the end. And yet it could have be oh so different in the opening quarter hour if Paul Moran had taken two chances in succession with only the keeper to beat. The first was an open goal with a scrambling goalie just trying to block the incoming shot. He saved, blocked again, then a third time before the ball was scrambled clear by a grateful Stevenage defence.
And that was it! By the time Dominic Gentle was presented with the ball at his feet from a goal kick in the last minute, the game had been decided by a four goal blast from the visitors, demonstrating the difference between Conference and Icis football. Sure - there was a relapse when Stevenage's first-half goalie dropped the ball like a hot potato in front of West, but nothing created by a lackluster Enfield attack.